Dickies Arena reaches construction milestones

Posted Feb. 27, 2018

Roof trusses are going up at Dickies Arena, which will host a wide variety of programming, including concerts, family shows, sporting events, community events and Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo performances.

Construction on Dickies Arena is about one-third of the way completed, and passersby can now start to get a sense of the magnitude of the $540 million project.

Assistant City Manager Susan Alanis reported these recent milestones:

A sales center opened in November 2017.

The arena’s brick façade has started to go up. The building’s exterior will complement the look of the other structures on the Will Rogers Memorial Center campus.

The parking garage, which was completed ahead of the construction on the arena, was operated for this year’s Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.

To improve the adjacent support facilities at Will Rogers, $15.5 million has been added to the arena debt issue to provide the next phase of updates to the cattle barns in a 50/50 partnership with the Stock Show. And $3 million has been added to accelerate HVAC systems and technology improvements that support a large portion of the campus.

Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) participation

A robust MBE outreach has resulted in more than $55 million in contracted participation to date. Robert Sturns, director of the city’s Economic Development Department, said that figure is above the 15 percent target for the project.

Four community outreach events have been conducted, and about 400 people representing 160 companies attended. These events provide a unique setting for MBEs and arena contractors to network and discuss ways to work together on the project.

About the arena project

Dickies Arena is the result of a public-private partnership between the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, the state of Texas and a group of private-sector participants, including foundations, individuals and organizations. The partnership was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November 2014.

Public funding is capped at $225 million with no increase in property, sales or hotel occupancy tax rates and no impact to the city’s operating funds and debt capacity. The arena complex will be owned by the city and managed by a private-sector nonprofit organization, Multipurpose Facility Fort Worth. The arena will be financially self-sufficient, with no public money going toward operations or maintenance.

Dickies Arena was named as a host for the 2022 NCAA men’s basketball first and second rounds. Additionally, Fort Worth will be the host city for four years for NCAA women’s gymnastics championships, beginning in 2019. The event will be held at the Fort Worth Convention Center for the first year and will move to Dickies Arena in 2020 for the remaining years.